The hiring manager may be concerned that you won’t respect their authority. Younger colleagues may fear you’ll assume a higher status even though they have been there longer. If you have worked for a younger boss in the past, work that in as part of one of your examples. Or use the interview as its own example by showing no hesitation or discomfort with the age disparity during the interview. Ask your prospective hiring manager about their goals for the position and their insights into the target market. Talk to your prospective colleagues as peers.

Highlight your combined advantages

The age disparity might be a non-issue and even an advantage. In this particular case, the role was a new consumer finance product, and the over-50 job seeker had seen more market cycles than the younger team – a valuable perspective for building out this product. She also had more connections in the older demographic – a customer marketing advantage.

Depending on what other experience, skills and expertise the hiring manager and team member brought, there could be other synergies among their backgrounds. Age is just one factor. For example, this over-50 job seeker had spent many years as a consultant and was used to parachuting into new and uncertain situation. This experience would be particularly helpful during the launch phase of this new product.